Liz Truss has defeated Rishi Sunak to be the new Prime Minister of Britain. She beat her rival, former finance minister Rishi Sunak, by 81,326 votes to 60,399, after a summer-long internal contest sparked by Boris Johnson’s resignation in July.
Long the front-runner in the race to replace Johnson, Truss has become the Conservatives’ fourth prime minister since a 2015 election. Over that period the country has been buffeted from crisis to crisis, and now faces what is forecast to be a long recession triggered by sky-rocketing inflation which hit 10.1 per cent in July.
The 47-year-old has consistently been ahead of 42-year-old Mr Sunak in polling among the estimated 200,000 Tory members eligible to vote.
Boris Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and he will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. His successor will follow him and be asked to form a government.
“I am grateful for your support: Liz Truss said after being appointed the Prime Minister of UK. “I am grateful for your support. It has been a hard-fought contest. The contest shown the depth of talent the party has. Would like to thank Rishi Sunak.”
After weeks of an often bad-tempered and divisive party leadership contest that pitted Truss against Rishi Sunak, a former finance minister, Monday’s announcement at 1130 GMT triggers the beginning of a handover from Boris Johnson.
Johnson was forced to announce his resignation in July after months of scandal and he will travel to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday to officially tender his resignation. His successor will follow him and be asked to form a government
